Unboxing: Asterion Molloc & Ivanus Enkomi

Last week Forge World opened up pre-orders for two Minotaur characters from the Badab War; Chapter Master Asterion Molloc and Chaplain Ivanus Enkomi. These figures arrived at my doorstep this morning and despite my previous thoughts on the model, I was pleasantly surprised with what I received. The first character I took a look at was Chaplain Enkomi who is wonderfully detailed. The Crosius Arcanum is a two piece kit with a very detailed spine forming the haft that matches the chest detailing which has a sculpted rib section mounted with the Minotaurs chapter symbol, all in all very impressive and unique details. I am happy to see that the cloak is a separate piece as I had been initially worried it was part of the body leaving no room for a jump pack. With that fear now removed I am now looking around for a suitable jump pack to add - but not a pre-heresy/older armour mark.

Badab War: Terminators & Librarian Progress

Finally been able to add paint to these mini's. I have been anticipating working on this squad for some time but put them aside in favour of finishing the tactical squads off. With tactical squad 2 nearing completion; eyes and bolters left to do; I decided to start the bronze stage (the longest stage) of the Terminators. I had a bit of an issue covering the red plastic of the Space Hulk miniatures but I feel there is a nice even layer for me to start the washing phase. I think as a nice goal, having the terminators and tactical squad 2 finished for the weekend is not only achievable but also closes on the first fully painted 1000pts.

Auctions: Forge World, Avatars Of War & Inifnity

New auctions for the week including a Forge World Ironclad Dreadnought kit and some other random bits, mostly brand new. The last bits of Infinity figures have also been added, these items are unopened in original blisters. Finally a whole lot of Avatars Of War figures, great bunch of figures I will never get round to painting available now at a low starting price. 

To check out the above auctions and see what else is available in the store check out: DiStudios Minis

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th legion

Forgeworld: Asterion Molloc, Ivanus Enkomi, Space Marine Rapier & Event Model

Here we go, finally some pictures! Asterion Moloc and Chaplain Ivanus Enkomi are being released as a set for £30.00 with a shipping date of 2nd of April. After a lot of hype, I find myself a little underwhelmed with the sculpts but will probably be buying them anyways.

Badab War: Why Those Contemptors Are Late

My Minotaur Contemptor dreadnoughts have suffered massive delays recently, this is partly due to my concentrating on the infantry, waiting for bits, but mostly due to a bit of builders/painters block. Anyways here is the wip of my two Contemptors, I have taken a very Spartan look to the pair, giving them head dresses to denote their heroic status - after all great heroes still serve in death.

Badab War: Fully Painted Stuff! No Really!

Long time readers already know I post a lot of wip shots of stuff but have little in the way of finished pieces. This is purely down to my perfectionist nature, I may not be the best painter out there, but I know what I like and expect from my work, which when working on long term projects, means...a long project : /  This has always been my curse when doing something for myself.

Anima Tactics: Black Sun Gang Built

The gang is now built up and has been cleaned, ready for the filling and priming stage. I decided on using the Promethea character instead of Clover because I managed to shave a portion of his detail off during a late night session, a replacement is en-route but for now the current Clover figure has been relegated to test figure for future paint schemes. I am glad that I decided to make use of the Promethea figure, it is beautifully sculpted and is a nice contrast to the Bio-Zombie mech of the Raziels. 

Auctions: Warmachine, Hordes, Infinity & More

New auctions added to the eBay store this week including Forgeworld, Cryx, Studio McVey OOP, Sedition Wars, Infinity and more. Lots of new unopened stuff at low prices.

To check out all the new items and bits store, visit DiStudio's Minis.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios
The 14th Legion

Anima Tactics: First Weekends progress

So the first weekend fully dedicated to Anima Tactics miniatures comes to a close and quite frankly I feel a little drained from it. I mentioned in my last post that the miniatures are cast in multiple metal pieces and that the quality of cast is good, my opinion on this has not changed. However the number of pieces involved in making the larger kits is at times challenging, due to the small size of some components and need to remove fine mould lines. It has been some time since I have worked with large metal miniatures and as a result took a little time readjusting to work with it. Below is a good example of the number and scale of parts: The Type - 012 which is essentially a giant dead dog consisting of around 12 different components; including lower jaw and two separate horns, all which need cleaning and a little positioning to fit (like with most multi part metal kits).

Anima Tactics: Black Sun Reinforcements

Freshly arrived reinforcements for my Black Sun collection: Raziel NK-X & Type-012. Two very cool looking figures, I especially like the NK-X with it's Hellraiser style chains coming from the back. I was surprised to discover how many pieces each figure is and how finely cast they are, I will be sure to take my time cleaning and putting these two together properly.

I have decided that regardless of stats I will be giving my NK-X double Raxxor, the two swords look immense and the concept of modelling my figure with two of these huge blades really inspires me. So for this weekend, the Minotaurs take a rest and the Black Sun march forward! I also grabbed myself some resin flagstone bases to match the art work, I bought these from Fenris Games, a resin specialists I have used a number of times in the past and recommend very highly.

Right back to the paint desk! I look forward to sharing wip pics soon.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Auctions: Forgeworld Nurgle, Khador & More

New auctions added to the eBay store this week including lots of Forgeworld Nurgle Daemon stuff, Khador and Sisters of Battle. A restock of Forgeworld Space Marine Armour Variants is due and will be added to the bits section asap. Right now I am concentrating soley on Forgeworld bits and If there are any particular bits readers would like to see added to the store in the future, please feel free to leave recommendations here and I will consider stocking them.

To check out all the new items and bits store, visit DiStudio's Minis.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios
The 14th Legion

Anima tactics: Getting back into the thick of things

I am notorious for picking up anything I like the look of when it comes to miniatures, the game at times is irrelevant to me. After digging around some of my old boxes I stumbled on my Anima Tactics collection, a motley assortment of figures I grabbed for the sake of (including 2 of the Ltd CMON Celia figures) some time ago. I did consider just throwing them back into the storage box; to be lost to the ages; but at the last minute changed my mind. After sifting through the boxes and blisters I discovered that I had more of the Black Sun faction than any of the others (lots of angelic type figures though), I believe these were the latest thing out when I was buying. 

So I have decided that Black Sun will be where I plant my flag, knowing nothing more than the fact they are some sort of cyber Necromatic type faction, which suits me just fine as I love the look of the figures. Now I am not thinking about games at all right now and of course the Minotaurs will still take priority, but I am looking forward to getting started on these lovely figures and eventually getting a full collection to grace my display cabinets.

I have already gone ahead and ordered the rest of the figures missing from my collection, I am especially looking forward to painting the Type-012 Hunter as it oozes character. I guess it was kind of a sign when my Morrigan order failed as I have been waiting two weeks now on an order confirmation with no response from the company at all(payment has not been accepted either!). So on that note I will take it as a sign to stick with the Black Sun.

The other Anima Tactics miniatures will be going on the eBay shop within the next two weeks.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

A Note to Posters

Hey guys & girls,

I always appreciate comments which is why I am taking time to write a short post about them. If possible please leave all comments via Disqus, if you try to post comments via the normal Blogger interface, it will not show up here on the blog, I have tried fiddling around to get both to show up, but to now avail. Disqus takes no time at all to set up and is a great way to keep track of comments left not only here but on any other blogs that use the system.

It would be a shame to lose any comments left by readers, hence the Disqus shout out :)

As always thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Forgeworld: Chaos Decimator Daemon Engine

Simply wow! This is a very different take on walker types that oozes Chaos Daemonetica to me, Forgeworld have been very careful not to label this a dreadnought of any kind so perhaps it is a sign of Dark Mechanicum/Demo tech being fully incorporated into Chaos? Time will tell but for now enjoy the pics.

Now it is still a little early to speculate; that this heralds the arrival of the Chaos Legions for 2012, as we still have the next Forgeworld Imperial Armour book imminent, which does focus on some Chaos (Tzeentch) vs Space Marines (The Minotaurs). However the unique design, focus on daemonic energies does tie in with some of what has been said concerning the rumoured Chaos Legions themes.

Like the dreadnought kits, arms are purchased separatley. This kit is available for pre-order now with a 2nd of April release date.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

p.s. Zone Mortalis small & large doors also available for pre-order...but somehow they seems  little over shadowed now haha

Wip: So what happened to those Terminators?

Regular readers will remember that my Minotaurs project was built off the back of a Terminator squad I was working on. I was still at the experimental stage of painting bronze and figure posing, but ultimately was unhappy with the look. I attempted to revisit a Terminator squad when I went and bought the complete set of Blood Angel's Terminators from the latest Space Hulk board game in December '11, again the project fizzled out. Finally March 2012, I have made use of those figures and built two squads of Terminators that I am actually happy with, they look ornate enough to be veterans and posed well enough to keep me interested in painting.

It was after a lot of hacking away that I could actually make up some of these as Assault Terminators and after a little position (and lots of hacking away) I was able to fit the 'normal' weapons on the Space Hulk bodies, this would ultimately allow me to use the Forge World Minotaur shoulder pads still sitting in the pack. I have ordered some new shields to finish the Assault Terminators and this time they are not from Scibor as I feel these bits are a little over used now and the quality of casts do not meet my standard (although I did use one Scibor shield for the kneeling Terminator - easier to hack into resin :P).

So what do people think? I personally am a lot happier with the way these guys are looking, especially when I look back at the original squad from September. I will be doing one final check for any missed Blood Angel iconography before I go ahead and prime as over the course of converting I kept finding hidden blood drops in the tiniest of places (a testament to the sculptors), and the intention is to start painting initially with airbrush this weekend. A Librarian in Terminator armour is due also to lead the squad, although it is the Finecast version as the Space Hulk version no longer appeals to me.

I have not forgotten the Contemptor you guys and gals voted for. What was once one Contemptor has become two and both 'Ajax' and 'Theokeles' will be making an appearance at some point this month, once the new parts turn up. I think the delay will be justified when you see what I have in mind ^_^

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Inspired? Reinforce today with: Wayland Games - Discount Wargames

Auctions: Hordes, Warmachine & 40K

Various stuff just added onto my eBay store, including lots of unopened blister packs of metal 40K miniatures, plenty of Hordes: Minions on there this week as well.

Bits P&P has been adjusted with UK Standard postage starting at £1.00 (1st class), check out the store HERE or click on the page tab.

With thanks,

Chris

The 14th legion

Unboxing: Zone Mortalis Set

Zone Mortalis is the latest scenery release from Forge World, my set has just arrived and naturally I could not wait to start opening it. Please note, due to time constraints that this is just a first glance analysis of the product. The full set consists of four different tiles that are available individually and be can be set in a number of variations to create unique maps. When combined it is large enough to create a 2" x 2" gaming space which is large enough to sit on a four person dining table and comfortably play games. An interesting thing to note is that the resin unlike previous products is black as opposed to the grey used on the miniatures and also that these tiles are hollow.

Each tile has been sculpted with some nice detailed corridors and floor panels, with plenty of space for the ambitious painter to add additional painted detail (maybe some Ork graffiti!). The design as you would expect is gothic with arched bulk heads, Imperial Eagles and lots of cabling. 

One of the surprising things about each tile is how light they are due to the hollow cast, and this means each tile is potentially stackable with a lower chance of  damaging, chipping or general breakage occurring, of course time will tell once I get this painted and gaming commences on it.

The set is designed for new tiles to be added in the future much like the Realm of Battles board and unfortunately like the GW plastic board this set carries premium price tag of £90.00 for the set, this means attempting a 4" x 4" board is going to cost you lots. However fans of Space Hulk or general Space combat missions should get a lot of mileage out of the standard 2" x 2". I look forward to adding the door sets when they are announced and am intrigued to see what else Forge World will offer in the board making department.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Badab War: Invasion Imminent

++02/02/12 24 Hours Before Deployment++

Last day before my first game of 40K with the Minotaurs and unsurprisingly I will be failing my project goal of having a fully painted army for the event. Despite this I have learnt a lot of new things such as airbrushing and developed a form of production painting that suits my painting style. This new knowledge will help me with any future projects and general painting productivity, I am more than satisfied with how much I have painted in the space of one month; compared to say last years output.

A few things about the game tomorrow, the points limit was dropped by the organiser to 1000pts as his intent was to field a new Heresy era Sons of Horus army, however this plan is subject to change and he may just take his Space Wolves instead. Both my opponents are extremely competitive gamers, and will be fielding the following armies: Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Chaos or Space Wolves (the organiser has three codexes he can choose from on the day). I 'think' I am ready for tomorrow's game, as in I have some dice, objective markers and tape measures, I have read the 5th Ed rule book at least once and understand what my figures can do in-game. Of course no amount of theory craft or reading can prepare you for actual engagement, so learning cap firmly on.

So what is left for me to do? Well instead of trying to rush the remaining units I have tonight, I will instead concentrate on finishing all the small details on existing units that are close to ready. No transfers will be applied yet as I am still deciding on a weathering scheme to use, but the final product should look nice regardless. I will still need to keep the painting momentum up after this weekend as it is a escalating campaign, meaning I will need to add 250pts of new stuff on top of my list, and the last thing I want is to be massively swamped by a painting back through out March. 

Regardless of this weekends outcome, I feel hungrier than ever to roll some dice. All I need now is to find some Badab separatists to battle! Photos of my 1000pts army will go up this weekend and maybe some shots of the game.

Thanks for reading (a very tired),

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

p.s The Zone Mortalis set has been shipped out and should arrive in the next couple of days!